Attacker exposes ABC forum contributors

Updated In punishment for running a story about Dutch ultra-nationalist Geert Wilders, Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC, has been attacked, and forum and moderator credentials published.

The information has been posted to the Anonymous-branded “Pastebin lookalike” Anonpaste.me, and is reported here at Cyberwars.

The attacker used the Twitter handle @Phr0zenM to announce the attack, stating that the attack was carried out “for giving a platform for Geert Wilders to spread hatred”. The attack was apparently in response to this Lateline interview between presenter Tony Jones and Wilders.

The Register notes that during the interview, Jones frequently challenged Wilders on factual details, and on his understanding of Australia’s Muslim population.

As a result of the attack, nearly 50,000 users – most of whom have nothing to do with the ABC except as part of its audience – have had personal details published, including their names, posting nicknames, e-mail addresses, and (where this has been captured) location in the form of geographic coordinates.

The Register has sought comment from ABC Corporate Affairs, but at the time of writing has not received a return call.

Update: The ABC has owned up, here. The broadcaster says the vulnerable site was associated with a 2010 program, Making Australia Happy. It did not return The Register's call.

It gets worse, however. In this blog post, Microsoft security architect Troy Hunt blogs that the password hashes were unsalted and very easily recovered. ®